MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST NR Eligible: yes X DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY FORM no lit>roperty Name: B&O Stone Arch Viaduct over Rock Creek Inventory Number: M: 31-5 Address: Beach Drive North of Knowles A venue Historic district: X yes no City: Kensington Zip Code: 20895 County: Montgomery ~~~~~~~- USGS Quadrangle(s): Kensington ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Property Owner: CSX Transportation, Inc. Tax Account ID Number: 13-00952561 Tax Map Parcel Number(s): N274 Tax Map Number: HP62 ~~~~~~~~~- ~~~~~~~~- Project: Purple Line Agency: Maryland Transit Administration Agency Prepared By: Dovetail Cultural Resource Group Preparer's Name: M. Chris Manning Date Prepared: 9/18/2015 Documentation is presented in: Preparer's Eligibility Recommendation: x Eligibility recommended Eligibility not recommended Criteria: X A B xc D Considerations: A B c D E F G Complete if the property is a contributing or non-contributing resource to a NR district/property: Name of the District/Property: Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad Inventory Number: M: 37-16 Eligible: _ X_ yes Listed: yes ~~~~~~~~~ )ite visit by MHT Staff yes X no Name: Date: Description of Property and Justification: (Please attach map and photo) Summary The Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Stone Arch Viaduct over Rock Creek (M: 31-5) is a single-span, stone-arch viaduct constructed in 1893 to carry the newly double-tracked Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad over Rock Creek. The viaduct is located between the towns of Kensington and Garrett Park in southern Montgomery County, Maryland and is a contributing resource to the Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad (M: 3 7-16). Today the structure carries the CSX Metropolitan Subdivision, the Brunswick Line of the Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) rail line, and Amtrak's Capitol Limited over Beach Drive and the Rock Creek Hiker-Biker Trail. Location/Setting The B&O Stone Arch Viaduct over Rock Creek is located in Montgomery County, Maryland, between the towns of Garrett Park and Kensington. The viaduct, which occupies approximately 0.63 acres, is situated in a lightly wooded suburban setting adjacent to Ken-Gar -- Palisades Local Park, part of the Maryland-National Capitol Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) park system. MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST REVIEW Eligibility recommended ~ Eligibility not recommended Criteria: $._A B :faC D Considerations: A B c D E F G MHT Comments: Date ~)ll1 lie Date NR-ELIGIBILITY REVIEW FORM M: 31-5 B&O Stone Arch Viaduct over Rock Creek Page2 As originally constructed, the viaduct carried the double tracks of the Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad over Rock Creek. In the 1960s, Rock Creek was channeled into an underground culvert so that it no longer passes through the arch of the viaduct (Nationwide Environmental Title Research [NETR] 1964, 1970; United States Geological Survey [USGS] 1971). Today Beach Drive, a two-Jane road also constructed through the area in the 1960s, and the Rock Creek Hiker-Biker Trail pass under the arch on a raised surface that accommodates the subterranean channel of Rock Creek. Architectural Description The B&O Stone Arch Viaduct over Rock Creek is a single-span, stone-arched railroad viaduct standing approximately 50 feet tall (The Daily News [DN] 1893a). It is constructed of semi-coursed, rough-faced, ashlar sandstone with an arch of sandstone voussoirs on each spandrel wall and stepped, splayed wing walls, also of sandstone. The underside of the arch is reinforced with a thin lining of concrete and the top of the arch is covered with earthen fill to make a level rail bed approximately 12 feet above the top of the arch. Raised earthen embankments flank either side of the stone arch to help span the wide valley. Rock Creek has been channeled underground at this location, and the viaduct now serves as a drive-thru tunnel for Beach Drive and the Rock Creek Hiker-Biker Trail. Historic Context The B&O Railroad was chartered in 1827 to connect Baltimore, Maryland to the Ohio River (Stover 1995:15- 18). In 1833, an additional charter was obtained to construct a spur from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., known as the Washington Branch, which officially opened two years later (Stover 1995:40-41). Through this line, all B&O rail traffic headed west from Washington had to first pass through Baltimore. It soon became evident that a more direct route was needed. The Metropolitan Branch of the B&O, connecting Washington, D.C. to the main line at Point of Rocks, Maryland, was intended to shorten the route between Washington and the West. Plans for the Metropolitan began in 1865, when a charter was acquired, with some construction occurring as early as 1866; however, the line was not completed until the spring of 1873 (Boyd 1879:81 ; Stover 1995:114, 142-143). The new line was 43 miles long and ran diagonally through Montgomery County on a single track (Stover 1995: 143). Where the line passed over Rock Creek, a large metal-truss bridge was constructed. According to a historical marker erected nearby by the M-NCPPC, this first bridge, built between 1866 and 1873, consisted of a four-span, Bollman iron truss 450 feet long and 70 feet high, supported by abutments constructed of Seneca sandstone (Kelly 2011:301 ; M-NCPPC n.d.). The B&O Metropolitan Branch drastically impacted the development of Montgomery County. In addition to providing farmers with ready access to markets for their crops and commodities, it also spurred the creation and growth of new and existing suburban communities along the line, including both Garrett Park and Kensington, from which residents could easily commute into Washington (Tamburrino 2000). As the line grew in importance, it became clear that a single track was not adequate to handle the heavier loads and increased traffic (Kelly 2011 :301). Double tracking of the Metropolitan Branch from Washington, D.C. to Gaithersburg, Maryland was accomplished in phases. The first stretch, completed in 1887, extended from Washington to Silver Spring; construction on the segment between Rockville and Gaithersburg began the following year (DN 1893a). The section from Silver Spring to Kensington was double tracked in 1891, and from Garrett Park to Rockville in 1892-1893 (DN 1892, 1893a). The last section to be converted to a double track lay between Kensington and Garrett Park, made more expensive and substantially more challenging by the difficulties in spanning Rock Creek Valley (DN 1893a, 1893b ). A decision was made to replace the existing Bollman truss iron bridge with a stone- and earthen-fill viaduct that could carry a double track. There are conflicting reports on the date of the construction of the B&O Stone Arch Viaduct over Rock Creek. The historical marker in Ken Gar-Palisades Park claims that the Bollman truss bridge was in use until around 1900 (M-NCPPC n.d.). A Maryland MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST REVIEW Eligibility recommended Eligibility not recommended Criteria: A B c D Considerations: A B c D E F G MHT Comments: Reviewer, Office of Preservation Services Date Reviewer, National Register Program Date NR-ELIGIBILITY REVIEW FORM M: 31-5 B&O Stone Arch Viaduct over Rock Creek Page 3 Historical Trust Inventory Form completed in the 1970s estimates that the viaduct was constructed around 1906, while the Montgomery County Inventory of Historic Sites and Districts gives a date of 1896 (Dwyer 1975; Kelly 2011 :301). Historic newspapers and first-person accounts, however, tell a different story (Defandorf 1973:13). By February 1893, work had begun on the construction of the stone arch, with workers housed in "shanties" on site (Washington Evening Star [WES] 1893a, 1894). Plans for the new span included the realignment of Rock Creek to provide a straighter channel over which the new bridge would cross, the realignment of a county road that formerly passed under the Bollman truss, and the securing of the necessary right of ways (Montgomery County Deed Books [MCDB] EBP 31 :451-457). Work was completed on the viaduct by the summer of 1893 and opened for traffic by early fall (DN 1893a; WES l 893a, l 893b ). The B&O Stone Arch Viaduct over Rock Creek was most likely designed by or under the direction of John Edwin Greiner, a prominent civil engineer with the B&O Railroad. After working as a draftsman for the Edge Moor Bridge Works in Wilmington, Delaware from 1880 to 1883, Greiner accepted the position of assistant engineer with the Keystone Bridge Works, where he worked under Gustav Lindenthal and supervised the erection of the Seventh Street Bridge over the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh (German Marylanders 2015; Hall 1912; The Railroad Gazette [RG] 1908; The Railway and Engineering Review [RER] 1908). In 1885, Greiner began employment with the B&O as a draftsman, quickly advancing within the company to fill the positions of inspector of bridges, chief draftsman (1889), assistant bridge engineer (1891 ), and engineer of bridges (1894) before taking on the role ofChiefEngineer of Bridges and Buildings in 1899, and finally, Assistant Chief Engineer in 1905 (Hnedak 1980:8-9; RG 1908; RER 1908). Upon his resignation from the B&O in 1908, Greiner was described by one contemporary as "probably one of the best known bridge engineers in the country," adding that he "has personally designed or had charge of the designing and erection of every bridge constructed on the Baltimore & Ohio since 1885" (RER 1908:327). Greiner is credited with the design of several prominent bridges and viaducts constructed by the B&O during this period, including the Arthur Kill swing-span bridge to Staten Island, completed in 1889, the B&O Bridge over the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry (1894), the Little Seneca Creek Viaduct (M: 18-44) in Boyds, Maryland, constructed in 1896, and the Little Monocacy Viaduct (M: 12-19), constructed in 1906 (Avery and Warfield 1979; Hnedak 1980:8-9; Hutchinson and Avery 1979:A-1; Kelly 2007).